VIF Papers
Cyber Weapons – A Weapon of War?

… cyber weapons will be used individually and blended simultaneously with conventional kinetic weapons as force multipliers … for both attacker and defender, it is difficult to predict; cyber weapons often achieve things other than their intended purpose … strategic calculation for attackers thus becomes considerably more complex ... over-reliance by strategists and scholars on such imprecise terminology has significant risks for misinterpretation and premature prescription ...

Biden as a Liberal Crusader: Assessing the Obama-Biden Human Rights Legacy

… the hope is that Biden would have learnt from the Obama era mistakes and hence follow a non-interventionist policy to avoid another ‘humanitarian’ war … at the end of his Presidential term, Biden may emerge a ‘liberal crusader’ or be another ‘crumbling liberal hero’ …

India-Japan in the Indo-Pacific: A Strategic Convergence for Peace, Progress and Prosperity

Over the last three decades, with the economic rise of India, Japan, China, Korea, ASEAN combined with Australia and New Zealand, Indo-Pacific has surely emerged as the new theatre of Great Power contest. The idea of Indo-Pacific and its coordinates such as the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QUAD) and Supply Chain Resilience Initiatives (SCRI) are the brain Childs of modern Japan’s visionary Prime Minister Abe Shinzo. With the benefit of his historical insights and political legacies, partnership with India has emerged as the centrepiece in his scheme of global political restructuring.

Water Security as Part of Non-Traditional Security: Threat - Implications for India

… it would be important for the Indian government to assess how China could ‘weaponize’ its control over trans-boundary waters and potentially ‘choke’ the Indian economy … there are different opinions about the impact of the proposed dams on the quantity of water flow in the Brahmaputra. A gigantic hydropower project will undoubtedly have some effects ... There is also one school of thought which believes that the negative impact may not be huge.

China’s Cyber-Influence Operations

… With its growing assertiveness in the international arena, China uses new technologies to achieve its foreign policy goals and project an image of responsible global power … spending billions on influence operations across the world ... fits in with China’s larger aim of expanding its soft power alongside its growing economic and military power … reach of Beijing’s overseas media is impressive and should not be underestimated. But the results are mixed ...

China’s Nuclear and Missile Capabilities : An Overview

… creation of the theatre commands and the PLA’s emphasis on joint operations have catalysed the Rocket Force’s focus on jointness…. integrating Rocket Force units into dual-use missile systems and the possible collocation of conventional and nuclear missiles could create risks of unintentional escalation in a conflict ... more diverse and dispersed nuclear force could increase China’s confidence in the survivability of its second-strike capability, causing it to forego more assertive changes to its nuclear posture…

Indian Military: Adapting to New Age Strategic Paradigm

… for some years before India’s military modernization bears fruition at the field level, the Indian military, having committed to its rigorous oath, has little option but to defend the nation by harnessing what resources that might be available and what little that might be coming in the immediate future …

Defining China’s Intelligentized Warfare and Role of Artificial Intelligence

China feels that U.S. is its main adversary ... China is trying to match U.S. technological capabilities with its own strength in AI as a leap frog technology and a new concept of war ... But there will be lot of problems in implementing this concept of Intelligentization Warfare to reality. However, President Xi Jinping has thrown the gauntlet, and it is up to the U.S. the other adversaries and the rest of the world to follow this concept keenly.

Cyber DNA of China –Deep, Focussed and Militarised

The strategic goals reconfirmed by the CCP, in late 1970’s, included maintaining domestic stability; sustaining economic growth and development; defending national sovereignty and territorial integrity; safeguarding China’s interest world over. The focus of the Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Five year Plans, was on investing in export industries, infrastructure, adaption and investment in technology development. China began opening its economy to the outside world and embraced market forces. Since then, China’s growth and development have been spectacular.

U.S. Department of Defence Annual Report of 2020 on China’s Military Power: Implications for India’s Maritime Security

The US Department of Defence (DoD) Annual Report of 2020 on China Military Power released in September 2020 brings out China’s meteoric military progress in recent years. The report states that China is already ahead of the United States in certain areas such as shipbuilding, land-based conventional ballistic and cruise missiles, and integrated air defence system.

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